Mapping the concepts behind the contemporary liberalization of the use of force in international law

The Article starts by investigating the manner in which the prohibition to use force is being incrementally corroded. In particular, it argues that the evanescence of the rule expressed in Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter does not stem from a conscious disregard for the prohibition on the use force since most States still feel constrained by it. Instead, it is submitted that the disintegration of the prohibition on the use force results from a general striving for looser limitations on that prohibition. This phenomenon is construed here as a liberalization of the use of force. Once it has been established how the prohibition on the use of force is being liberalized, only then this Article engages in a study of its consequences for the international legal order.